Point of View

Forest Dark tells the loosely connected stories of two protagonists, a 68-year-old former lawyer named Jules Epstein, and a 39-year-old author named Nicole. Nicole's last name is not provided, but given that this character shares a first name with the author, it is likely that she is something of an extension or stand-in for Krauss herself. This idea is supported by the fact that Nicole's portion of the novel is narrated in the first person. Thus the reader is apprised of her thoughts and feelings, which are largely centered around existential angst. This can become overwhelming, and even pretentious at times, but it is a distinct possibility that Krauss intends for these passages to be a little difficult. Nicole herself (the character) is difficult. She engages in long-winded discourse on physics (the multiverse theory), linguistics (the various Greek words for “time”), literature (interpretations of Kafka...